Maryland, SOJA, and the hot, hot sun

This past weekend I went to Ocean City, Maryland, with a co-worker/friend, Amber, to see a reggae group she's been following called SOJA - or Soldiers of Jah Army. We had a great time and the concert was tons of fun. This band is from the East Coast and plays mostly East Coast venues. I decided that since I had never been to Maryland, I should go. The band was fantastic and I had such a great time with Amber and her family. Unfortunately, while we were there the weather got scorching hot. It was in the upper 90's and the house we stayed at had no air conditioning! I know - being from Texas I should be used to the heat. But in Texas, we have it set up so the only time we have to feel hot is when we go from our car to the building. Otherwise, it's a very comfortable 75 degrees all year long! When I got back to Ithaca, it wasn't much cooler. Actually, today the bank thermometer said it was 103 degrees!!! Amazing! This is New York! I'm shocked and appalled at how many venues in town do not have central air. Luckily, Eric and I happened to rent one of the only apartments in town with central air. And trust me, this was purely accidental. (I thought every building in the world automatically came with central air!) Who knew it could get so hot?! The good thing though is that it is supposed to get back down in the 70s where it belongs by the end of the week. In Texas, the 103 degree weather lasts for much longer than one day. Thank goodness it's just a freak occurrence here.
Other than being really hot here, not too much else has been going on. Eric had his final in his Team Building class where the whole class had to prepare a seven course meal. The morning of the final I woke up to him packing up kitchen gadgets, including his beloved stand mixer. I had to ask to make sure he wasn't leaving me! If he ever did, I know he'd take that mixer and the TV! But lucky for me, the TV was still there so I knew he wouldn't be gone for too long! He came back about 8 hours later. The final went well (which surprises me a little because I know how Eric likes to have the kitchen to himself.) I think he even learned a few new recipes. So he's done with Team Building but he still has his class on Motivation to finish.
My class (Crisis Communication) is still going great. It's gotten me slightly more paranoid because we're always talking about worse case scenarios. If I haven't told you already - learn how to text message. It's one of the best ways of communicating in a crisis when all other forms of technology either don't work or are too overloaded to work. So other than that, I'm really loving the class. You wouldn't believe some of the case studies we look at. It amazes me how heartless some companies can be. On a less horrible note, I meet with my grad advisor tomorrow to set up an internship for me. It will be in Marketing and PR. After this semester, I think Eric and I are going to have the second summer session off. At least I hope so. We have been pretty busy this session.
I'm also doing volunteer work for the local Habitat for Humanity chapter doing Public and Media Relations. I submitted my first article to them and they seemed to like it. Once it's posted I'll send a link. Now I have another one to write - I'll be interviewing the chapter president who is retiring after 9 years of service. They want me to capture the history of those 9 years and I feel really honored to do so. I'm also working on a few other smaller press releases for them, too.
Sarge and Princess are doing great. Sarge still hates the heat - let's hope we don't move somewhere too warm for Eric's Ph. D program! Princess spends most of her days lounging around and Sarge spends most of his days trying to get a rise out of her. He is a little pest! I guess that's typical of little brothers...
Everything else is going great. If you're interested in reggae music, you should check out the band I saw this weekend. Their website is www.sojamusic.com